The present invention generally relates to electronic and optical media-based record data management over a long period of time for construction structures. More specifically, the invention relates to one or more data management systems that are physically embedded in a construction structure for ease of data storage, update, and retrieval of construction, design, and maintenance records over the life of the construction structure for an authorized personnel. Furthermore, the invention also relates to methods of operating one or more structurally-embedded data management systems that enable reliable and long-term storage, update, and retrieval of construction, design, and maintenance records.
Construction structures, such as buildings, bridges, roads, monuments, and amusement rides in theme parks, are typically associated with a voluminous amount of construction, design, and maintenance records over the life of each construction structure. For example, in order to complete a building construction, a construction project typically requires design drawings, calculations, shop drawings, request for information documents (RFI's). After completing the construction project, if the purpose of the building is changed, the building may need to be upgraded architecturally and structurally. If an owner or a tenant of the building is changed, the building may also need some improvement in accordance with the owner's or the tenant's preferences. Furthermore, as the building ages, the building also requires maintenance. Each of these various processes over the life of the building generates a voluminous amount of construction and design data by different architects and authorized personnel in typical circumstances.
While some of these construction-related records are compiled by the architect for the purpose of regulatory approvals by local, municipal, state, and/or federal construction code enforcement agency (e.g. DSA, OSHPD, FAA, and etc.), much of the construction-related records remain scattered among various entities, and even get lost during the life of the major construction structure, which may be decades or even centuries. The scattering of various records is partially due to the fact that different architects are often involved at various functions throughout the process. Furthermore, over a long period of time, many of the private entities, such as architectural, structural engineering, and construction firms become defunct or release their responsibility to keep various construction and design records as owners or principals of the firms retire. As the major construction structure ages, various structural upgrade, renovation, and maintenance works are required to retain public safety and convenience associated with the major construction structure.
For most construction structures today that require certain structural upgrade, renovation, and maintenance works, tracking down accurate construction-related records is not an easy task. For example, if an aged building's design blueprint cannot be found readily, a structural engineer may have to resort to using a specialized X-ray scanning machine or various costly and time-consuming identification tests to scan and analyze the actual structure of the aged building before initiating any structural upgrade, renovation, and/or maintenance works on the aged building. The X-ray scanning and analysis of a construction structure is time consuming, expensive, and may only provide a limited amount of useful data in some cases.
In most cases, the social cost of X-ray scanning and various identification tests can be mostly or entirely avoided, if engineers and/or authorized personnel can readily access design records, construction-related records, and/or past maintenance records. Many municipal, state, and national governments around the world today spend exorbitant and potentially unnecessary amounts of expenses for structural identification tests. Even when a structural engineer gathers and analyzes various test data, the various test data alone may not provide sufficient understanding of an entire construction structure. Therefore, in the conventional practice of structural engineering and analysis for construction structures, structural engineers often perform their duties based on their know-how and assumption, even when a full set of desirable data and/or records are not available to them. Various analytical presumptions that a structural engineer makes frequently incur potentially unnecessary and additional cost during structural upgrade, renovation, and maintenance work.
Furthermore, after natural disaster events such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, the demand for access of construction and design documents skyrocket upwards, as the needs for structural analysis and repairs of construction structures also skyrocket upwards. Unfortunately, the conventional methods of keeping construction and design records typically constrain fast and easy access to various construction and design records, when speedy and efficient repairs are needed the most after such natural disaster events.
In particular, if a natural disaster event is an earthquake, various structural damages may occur on a construction structure. In earthquake events, it is difficult to determine the impact of the earthquake on the construction structure and the extent of actual or likely damages. If the construction structure embeds seismic sensors that dynamically beacon sensory events to an electronic system embedded in the construction structure for keeping sensor records as well as construction and design records electronically, it may be very useful for assessing structural damages to the construction structure.
Therefore, it may be highly desirable to devise a highly-accessible electronic depository of construction, design, and maintenance records without requiring users to gather scattered records stored in various archives of architectural firms and municipal, state, and national governments. Furthermore, it may also be highly desirable to devise a highly-accessible electronic depository of construction, design, and maintenance records to be easily updatable by an authorized personnel after new structural upgrade, renovation, and maintenance works have been performed on a particular construction structure. In addition, it may also be desirable to devise a highly-accessible electronic depository of construction, design, and maintenance records, which is also capable of automatically archiving new event triggers from various sensors that detect earthquakes or other hazardous events for subsequent checkups by an authorized personnel. Moreover, it may also be desirable to devise a method of operating a highly-accessible electronic depository of construction, design, and maintenance records.